Tuesday, December 02, 2014

After the slightly depressing post about my brush with racism, I thought it was time to have a more upbeat post. And since I just took a management style quiz, I thought that might be fun to talk about.

My chart looks like this:

So, according to this, my priorities are work are:

Getting results and doing whatever it takes to get them

Taking action and hitting the ground running

Offering challenge and being straightforward

Generating enthusiasm by maintaining an upbeat, positive attitude

Apparently, not all Ds have that number 4, but I can see that in me. I am usually a very outgoing person, so while I can 100% relate to 1-3, I can see #4 as well. I just have to figure out how to combine all 4 to be successful at work.

Even though this assessment points out my strong points, it also showcases things I need to work on if I am going to be an effective leader ever. It states that I can be annoyed with small talk, and people can tell if I am irritated. That's so true!!!

Another sentence that resonated with me was that "making an effort to meet people's emotional needs may require more energy than you're willing to expend." That is something I have to reconcile within myself. People I lead have emotional needs that cannot be left outside their cubes. Whether it be acknowledgement of their accomplishments or empathy for their situation, I need to learn to connect to people at that level.

I also like being in charge and I don't questions my decisions too often, having made them pretty quickly. I am also very competitive and quick to point out things that don't make sense to me, pushing for change.

On the other hand, my stressors are following strict rules, inefficient meetings, slow pace, dull environments and a lack of control.

So, for me to be a good leader, I need to:

Consider my words carefully to avoid hurting and shutting down others. I need to learn to apologize even when I unintentionally disregard or hurt somebody's feelings.

Need to give people time to take in my suggestions, not accept their silence as agreement and give them a chance to share their concerns.

Minimize wasted time and effort by spending some time up front to ensure accuracy instead of running after immediate progress.

The most interesting thing to me about this was that my style has apparently changed over the last 6 months.I like where I've ended up and I realize I might need to work on some things to be effective but I wouldn't change the basic characteristics of who I am.